Twilight Kiss
by Blue Roses2
Summary: A small duel, a leisure horse ride, and a place in the Royal Forest Kel has never been before. Kel and Dom fluff.


**Author's Note: *** sigh * I had so much fun writing that last Kel/Dom ficlet, and I decided… "What the heck?" Let's write another! Volia, another light, fluffy (like chocolate mouse) ficlet that we can all revel in, or at least go "oooohhhh!" So sit back, grab a mug of hot tea (or whatever meets your fancy), and enjoy!

Twilight Kiss 

Keladry of Mindelan spun around quickly, her glaive slashing though the air. Her opponent brought up his glaive and blocked her attack and curved it downwards towards the floor. Kel moved her glaive up and grasped it as a staff and blocked a low hit. Sweat beaded on her brow with her effort to bring her glaive up, and curve out at her attacker. 

She grinned, and sweat began to drip down her face as she jumped back, moving out of the way. She swung around quickly and brought her glaive up into an attacking position. "Tired yet?" She taunted.

Dom grinned and brought his own glaive up to meet hers, blocking the oncoming attack. His own glaive snaked out, in an attempt to knock hers' away, but failed and he had to jump back to avoid becoming one arm short. "You wish." He bantered back to Kel, giving a crooked grin. 

Beads of sweat rolled down the back of Kel's neck, dampening her tunic. She separated herself away from Dom, giving her enough room to move her glaive to the other hand. The glaive began to feel heavy in her hand, and her muscles were screaming with the effort to hold it up. But she wasn't going to quit until Dom stopped, or she won. 

She attacked quickly, using easy but effective moves to back Dom up against the wall. Seeing her chance, she moved in quickly, knocking his glaive out of his hand and moving the blade of her weapon to his throat, holding it in the 'kill' position. She grinned and backed away. 

"You're good…" She paused, and gave him a quick wink. "For a beginner." She raised her eyebrows a teasing way and put her glaive on a hook of the practice room wall. 

"What a nice way to harm my male ego… we're fragile you know." Dom laughed, and mockingly rubbed the spot where Kel had held her glaive to his throat.  

Kel nodded and said. "I know that, I just beat you." She kept a straight face for a moment and laughed. "No, I guess I'm being mean. You are pretty good. Neal didn't learn as fast as you did." She sighed and shook her head as she though about her best friend. "But then again, he's too busy being a good husband to practice much. Or you know him, maybe he is just too stubborn."

Dom laughed. "Definitely the latter, he's the Meathead remember?"

Kel sighed as she thought of Neal's stubbornness… he could certainly rival a tauros in that department. "True." She wiped a hand across her forehead and pulled it back to find it covered with sweat. "I have to go wash up, I forgot how tired using the glaive makes me."

A slight wrinkle pulled at Dom's forehead. "You're not going already?" 

Kel gave him a quirky grin. "Why? I'm sweaty and hungry." As if those were two completely obvious reasons to leave. She squinted her eyes the slightest bit while looking at Dom. 

Dom flashed her a quick grin. "How about you bathe, then meet me at the Own's Stables… the main entrance. Can you manage it with a candlemark?"

Kel raised her eyebrows up slightly. Then she said; "Of course… what do you have in mind?"

"Another glaive match?" Dom joked, then said quickly. "It's a surprise… but if you don't want to…" He let the silence fill in the ending.

Kel's stomach did a jump, and Kel was sure it wasn't the hunger that was starting to mix about in her stomach. "Okay… but you better clean off." Kel jokingly wrinkled her nose. "I'm detecting a slight odor." 

Dom laughed and gave her a one armed hug from the side as they left on their separate ways. And as Kel walked off, her side tingled where Dom had hugged her.

~*~

Kel had bathed and changed into a fresh outfit, opting a light dress and shift instead of a tunic and breeches. She still liked to dress a little girly, but mostly couldn't be bothered with all the work. So she brushed her hair and left it to dry, put on her shoes and decided to go without a cloak… it was still fairly warm in the late afternoon. 

She walked down to the stables, taking in the view around her. Men were practicing in the yards in which Kel and Dom had occupied earlier. The smell of sweets oats filled the air as she neared the stables, and she took a deep breath, the sweet smell was like molasses. She turned the corner towards the stables and saw Dom standing there with Peachblossom and his horse, waiting for her to meet them. 

"Oy, Kel!" Dom called out. A grin spread across his face, as he held the reins to the two horses. Kel noticed that his horse had a packed saddlebag on the side, with a wool blanket tied to the back. "Took you long enough to get here." He raised an eyebrow. "But I know how it goes, you court ladies must make sure you're primped and perfect."

Kel brushed past him, and she ignored her fluttering heart for a moment. "_I_ am _not_ a court lady." She grinned and took her reins from him for Peachblossom. "And besides Domitan of Masbolle, you must be very sure of yourself if you'd think I'd dress up for you." Kel smiled sweetly and tapped his head lightly.  

"You antagonize people." Was all he said, as she mounted Peachblossom. He mounted his horse and set off in a gallop. "Keep up Mindelan!"

Kel gave an unladylike snort and urged Peachblossom faster. "Can't let him beat us, can we?" She whispered to him, "He's already on airs." Peachblossom bobbed his head as if to say; _He's not the only one._

Kel grinned and came up beside Dom, as he slowed down to a simple pace that she matched. Her stomach was swirling as she neared him, but it wasn't from the fast space they had before. "So, what's in the bags Dom?" Her voice was teasing.

Dom gave her a side-glance and leaned back in his saddle. "Supper, I took the liberty of asking the cook at the Own's Mess to make something up."

Kel's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she wasn't disappointed. "Oh really? Where are we going then?" 

Dom grinned. "A place that I went to with the Meathead when we were younger. We'd always practice wrestling and swimming there, and it's almost untouched." He started to turn onto a path leading left, and Kel followed him. 

"How far off is it?" Kel asked, wondering what had gotten into Dom, he was almost acting like Neal had when he had a crush on Uline of Hannalof. But, in a way, she hoped he would continue to act this way, she liked it. She absently patted Peachblossom's mane as she thought about her own mixed feelings towards Dom. It was more then friendly feelings, but Kel really never had to act on these feelings before. With Cleon, he kissed her without a by your leave, she felt more lust towards him then love… but with Dom, it was a mixture of both. 

They rode in silence for a few minutes before Dom broke the silence. "How much longer are you in Corus for?"

Kel sighed and she looked about her, they were in the forest. "I'm here for about another fortnight, until Lord Raoul decides what to do with me, but before my task I want to go home to Mindelan. Visit with my family."

Dom smiled, a twinkle in his eye. "Sounds nice."

Kel nodded, "It is, but I haven't been home in months, maybe even a year, it was just after the Scanran War ended."

"I guess that is the advantage to having most of your family live at court." He commented absently. Then a grin broke out on his face. "We're here."

Kel looked up from Peachblossom's face. A smile broke out across her face, matching the one on Dom's face. "This place is beautiful."

There was a pond surrounded by trees and a small hill overlooking it, a view so out of place with the surrounding forest. The sun was begging to sink behind the trees and a light shimmered pink glinted off the small pond. Kel chuckled softly as she saw a rope tied to a tree, and she could picture a little Dom and little Neal jumping into the pond from it. 

Dom smiled, but as he looked at Kel seriousness fell over his face. "Like it?" He asked, as if his life hung on the balance of her answer. 

"I love it." His face brightened, and he slid of his horse's back. He walked over to Kel and held up his hand, to help her off. Without thinking, Kel took it and dismounted Peachblossom with Dom's help. His hand was warm in hers and Kel felt a tingle at the sweet touch. 

Somehow, whether it was the magic of the place, or just Kel's subconscious coming into effect, Kel didn't let go of his hand, and Dom in turn, made no effort to let go of hers either. He took the horses reins with his unoccupied hand and tethered them to a tree branch, leaving them a wide berth to graze.

He pulled of the bags from the back of his horse and led her to the top of the small hill in silence. They both sat down together, as if they had done it before, almost in sync. Finally Dom broke the sweet silence.

"You are the second person that has been brought to this place with either Neal or I." He said, looking at the ground, the sky, the tree stump a few feet away, anywhere but Kel's face.

Kel's brow wrinkled the slightest bit, in confusion. Who else had he brought here? "Who else did you bring here?" She asked, wanting, but both dreading the answer, for if he brought some other lady from court, it wouldn't be nearly as special.

Dom looked at her face, the corner of his full lips upturned. "Me? Nobody. But Neal brought Yuki…" He let the effect of that statement sink in, and Kel slowly met his eyes. The sun was sinking far beyond the trees now, and a light fairy light seemed to be around them.

"Oh…" Was all she could muster in a response. Dom smiled slightly, and raised his free hand to cup her cheek. "Do you know why?"

Kel's cheeks reddened. "No clue." She said softly. Dom chuckled under his breath and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Because he loved her."

With that, Dom gently moved forward and gently kissed her lips. He pulled back slightly, his breath warm on Kel's cheek. He met Kel's eyes, and nodded slightly. Kel leaned in and kissed him, and he pulled her towards him. Breaking the soft, sweet kiss Kel whispered softly.

"I love you too."

~*~

**Another Author's Note: **Okay, I had to write that… it was so much fun!!! Thanks to all of you who reviewed "Midwinter's Luck", I was shocked by the amount of reviews it received. My full length fiction about Kel/Dom is called "Fate Awaits" and I already posted 7 chapters … so you know… if you ever have free time and feel like reading a K/D you know what to do!! Remember my friends – Write, Read, Review… and most of all… Have Fun!


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